Little wonder, as the country’s head coach Gareth Southgate revealed, his players are so reluctant to report racist abuse.

They do not trust the system – society, Uefa, Fifa, even our own FA – to look out for them.

The paragraphs that follow are a sad reflection of the players’ beliefs before they set off for the World Cup in Russia.

Southgate said: “We spoke to them a lot before the summer and they were very clear they wanted to play their football.

HEARD IT ALL BEFORE

“Some of them did not even want to report things because they don’t have faith that things will be dealt with appropriately or they would make a difference.

“That is why I am conscious of their feelings when I am speaking as well.”

Danny Rose, the England player seemingly most targeted in Podgorica, chose not to talk.

He is lost in the fog, losing faith in a system loaded against the black guy playing left-back for his country.

The FA’s statement promises to tackle the problem and to work with Uefa to root out the racist idiots.

Rose has heard it all before, seen enough to know that the suits will never really understand.

How must it feel when he takes a touch, to look up for a team-mate and hear monkey noises bounce off the stands?

The white guys – me included - will never know.

That does not stop us learning, from trying to get a handle on the reason somebody could be so insulting, so maddeningly offensive to another human being.

Great leaders take the initiative, asserting their authority in stressful and testing situations.

Instead chief exec Martin Glenn and chairman Greg Clarke left Southgate to deal with this disturbing issue on his Jack Jones.

FA'S DELAY DAMAGING

Delegation, or dereliction? Hmmmm.

England’s head coach skilfully handled a tense press conference like a foreign attaché, and emerged with great credit. Glenn and Clarke, not so much.

Draft FA statements went from this department to that department before eventually surfacing sheepishly just after 1pm.

Empty words could – and should – have been released to the world MINUTES after England’s 5-1 victory.

They have the tools and the assertive communications’ expertise to do so.

Instead the FA big-wigs procrastinated, waiting for every stakeholder under the sun to have their two-penneth-worth before finally coming up with something tangible.

There was no need to pause because everybody was holding up their hands in Podgorica.

Radio Five Live commentator, Ian Dennis, was hurriedly talking to FA officials in the press box at half-time.

Uefa’s match delegate confirmed he was in earshot of the same scoundrels and had already kicked it upstairs to his bosses (bafflingly their own charges were published before the FA finally got their act together).

Southgate, combing through this depressing episode with pastoral care, also confirmed the worst.

England’s players, funnelling through media areas beneath the stands, did so too.

What more did the FA want?

There is no reason to be so scared of its own shadow when players representing our national team have been racially abused.

Condemn, report, support.

VISIBLY UPSET

To hell that this is a sensitive issue, a complex and tricky subject for a predominantly pale, male and stale organisation.

Southgate admitted as much himself, referring to himself as “a middle-aged white guy” desperately trying to make sense of it all.

He had the good grace to attack the issue, speaking with conviction about the disease that has infected our sport.

England’s head coach added: “I am not a political diplomat. Everybody knows how inclusive I am, so I need time to reflect and think through what happened.

“Normally I can speak eloquently about most things, but I just need time to think it through.”

Southgate was in post-traumatic shock, trying to balance the gratification of a 5-1 victory at the same time as working his way through this unique situation.

He was visibly upset when asked, legitimately, whether he should have taken his team off the field.

It made Southgate think, to puff out his cheeks and wonder whether he should have done so.

A protest would have been a powerful statement.

He added: “You have asked ‘should I have taken the team off and should I have done more?

“So understandably I want to go and reflect on whether I should have handled everything differently.

“The last thing I would want is to feel I have let the players down, or missed an opportunity to highlight the subject.

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